Meet Bialy...our August Pet of the Month. He is a Polish Mountain Sheepdog and is very special to us here at Pawsitive Steps Rehabilitation & Therapy for Pets. In September 2014, he will be celebrating his 12th birthday! We met Bialy last summer for evaluation of arthritis in his R hip. On examination, we found that he did have osteoarthritis (OA) of both hips (his right was worse than his left) and also some other joints had mild DJD (degenerative joint disease or arthritis). Additionally, he was carrying a bit of extra weight. He started a rehabilitation program to strengthen his core muscles along with hip and thigh muscles, but he took on the task to lose weight despite his arthritis and his age. Bialy was a trooper throughout and he lost 30#, bringing him down to a much trimmer 125#. We were all so proud of him and his dad for their hard work. Unfortunately, Bialy tore his R cruciate just before Thanksgiving 2013 and needed TPLO surgery (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy - a surgical procedure often used for cruciate injuries in large breed dogs). Despite his age, he did great with surgery and came back to us for rehabilitation, but for different reasons the second time around. He continues to do well after his surgery. He has maintained his weight loss over the last year and we see him about once monthly to monitor his progress. During his sessions, he does some floor exercises, tests out the underwater treadmill followed by some massage, acupuncture, laser therapy AND flirts with the staff. BTW - "Bialy" means "white" in Polish and is pronounced "bee-yah-way" (hope that his dad approves of the accent!). You can see more photos of Bialy in his photo album on our Facebook page, including his hip radiograph and some UWT time.